In many households, the use of knives and graters to cut, slice, grate and shred food has become obsolute over the last 15 years. Full-size food processors have provided a viable alternative to manual food preparation. Food processors have been an effective means of reducing the time needed to perform such foodcutting operations.
However, full size processors have fallen out of favor with consumers for several reasons. They are complicated, combersome, difficult to clean and, as a result, the full-size food processor has been relegated to infrequent use.
More recently, so-called mini-processors have been developed to overcome the deficiencies of their predecessors and to reclaim the shrinking food processor market. Such devices have been scaled down in size and reduced in cost. While they are somewhat easier to use, and less cumbersome, they are not substantially easier to set-up or clean and have therefore not satisfied the needs of the marketplace.
Of critical importance to the enduring success of a food processor is that it must possess the simplicity, convenience and stand-by readiness of a knife along with the speed, accuracy and versatility of a multi-purpose cutter. In addition, it must be easier to store and easier to clean than ordinary food processors.
Applicants have developed a food processor which can readily be held in the hand and moved to any desired location in an efficient manner. In addition, the food processor, in a preferred form of the invention, has a self-contained power supply that makes it portable. The food processor of the present invention includes novel cutting blade assemblies which make accurate cuts of food and are easy to load and clean.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a hand-held food processor which is easy to operate and easy to use and clean.
It is another object of the preferred form of the invention to provide a food processor which has a self-contained power source and which is therefore not dependent on being connected to an electrical outlet during operation.
It is a further object of the invention to provide novel cutting devices which are easily inserted into the food processor and which efficiently cut and eject food from the food processor.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a consumer kit containing the food processor and cutting devices in a surface mountable storage unit.